Medication-induced movement disorders are a variety of iatrogenic and clinically distinct movement disorders caused by various psychiatric medications. The disordered movements can range from tremors to life-threatening syndromes. Movement disorders are classified based on the time of onset after drug ingestion (acute, subacute, or tardive), offending medication, and specific type(s) of abnormal movement.
Extrapyramidal Symptoms
American Psychiatric Association
- Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Schizophrenia (see neurologic side effects section) (2020)
British Association of Psychopharmacology
- Guidelines for the Pharmacological Treatment of Schizophrenia (see section “Extrapyramidal side effects,” pages 27-31) (2019)
Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT):
VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines
- Guideline for Management of First-Episode Psychosis and Schizophrenia (see section “Pharmacological Interventions for Treatment of Side Effects”, pages 65-67) (2023)
World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry:
Primary Literature:
- Drug-induced movement disorders (Aust Presc 2019;42:56-61)
Tardive Dyskinesia
American Academic of Neurology:
- Evidence-based guideline: Treatment of tardive syndromes: Report of the Guideline Development Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology (2013)
Tremor
American Academy of Neurology
- Treatment of Essential Tremor (2011, reaffirmed 2022)
Primary Literature:
- Medical and surgical treatment for medication-induced tremor: case report and systematic review (Move Disord Clin Pract 2022;9(5):676-687)
Restless Leg Syndrome
American Academy of Neurology
Reviewer 1: Alex Surbaugh, PharmD, BCPP
Reviewer 2: Angeleki Zecopoulos, PharmD
2026-2027 AAPP Resident and New Practitioner Committee